US Supreme Court agrees to review legal challenge challenging automatic citizenship for those born in the US.

The top court has will hear a significant case that challenges a longstanding guarantee: automatic citizenship for people born within US borders.

On his first day in office this January, the administration enacted a directive aiming to end birthright citizenship, but the action was struck down by lower courts after constitutional questions were brought forward.

The Supreme Court's final judgment will ultimately uphold citizenship rights for the offspring of immigrants who are in the US illegally or on non-immigrant visas, or it will end those rights completely.

Next, the justices will schedule a date to hear oral arguments between the administration and claimants, which involve foreign-born parents and their young children.

The 14th Amendment

For over a century and a half, the 14th Amendment has enshrined the doctrine that all individuals born in the nation is a citizen, with specific conditions for children born to foreign diplomats and personnel of occupying armies.

"Anyone born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

The challenged executive order sought to withhold citizenship to the children of people who are either in the US without legal status or are in the country on short-term status.

The United States is among about a minority of states – primarily in the Western Hemisphere – that grant automatic citizenship to all those born in their territory.